guess maybe they know one another," said Joe. "They came from the
same store, you know."

"Oh, so they did!" exclaimed Jennie.

"I have a toy wagon," said Joe. "I'll hitch my Nodding Donkey up to it,
and we'll give your China Cat a ride."

"Oh, that will be fun!" cried Jennie. "Only don't upset her, for if she
falls out she may break off her tail."

"I'll be careful," promised Joe, and then he and Jennie had a lot more
fun with the Nodding Donkey and the China Cat. They were just thinking
up another game to play when Joe cried:

"Here come Dorothy with her Sawdust Doll and Mirabell with her Lamb on
Wheels."

"I should like to meet those toys," mewed the Cat to herself. And, a
little later she did, as two other little girls came in to play with
Joe. Then along came Dick, who was Dorothy's brother, and he brought his
White Rocking Horse, though it was rather a large and heavy toy to
carry. And Arnold, who was Mirabell's brother, brought along his Bold
Tin Captain Soldier and his men.

Now began a very gladsome time for Snowball. She lived in a fine house,
with a dear little girl for a mistress, and she had no more troubles.

Thus Winter passed and Spring came, with warm, sunny days when the
children could play with their toys on the porches. One day Joe took his
Nodding Donkey and went over to call on Jennie and her China Cat. But
just as Joe was going up the porch steps he heard a hand organ down the
street.

"Maybe there's a monkey with that hand organ!" said Joe to himself. So,
without stopping to ring the bell, or letting Jennie know he had come to
call, Joe set his Nodding Donkey down on the porch and ran out of the
yard.

And now I must tell you what happened. The hand organ was quite a
distance from Jennie's house, and it took Joe some little time to reach
it. While he was gone, having, as I said, left his Nodding Donkey on
Jennie's porch, along came sneaking Jeff, the colored boy.

Jeff's family had moved back into their basement tenement after the
flood, and Jeff was the same dirty, careless colored boy as before. He,
too, had heard the music of the hand organ down the street and he wanted
to see if there was a monkey.

But as he was passing Jennie's house he looked toward the porch, and
there he saw Joe's Nodding Donkey.

"Oh, golly!" whispered Jeff to himself, "dis yeah is mah chance! I kin
git dat Donkey, suah!"

Sneaking along, Jeff softly opened the gate and went into Jennie's yard.
On ti